Six vibrant Young Reporters Cover ICASA 2013 in South Africa.

Brighton Kaoma, a 19 year old Zambian Youth Reporter for Childrens Radio Foundation interviews Tara Boulle,a 14 year old student of Springfield High in Cape Town,South Africa. /IICASA 2013

Young people remain at the centre of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in
terms of rates of infection, vulnerability, impact, and potential
for change. They have grown up in a world changed by AIDS but
many still lack comprehensive and correct knowledge about how to
prevent HIV infection. This situation persists even though the
world has agreed that young people have the human right to
education, information and services that could protect them from
harm.

Young people are disproportionately affected in the HIV pandemic.
They face the economic and social impact of HIV/AIDS on families,
communities, and nations, and they must be at the centre of
prevention actions. Where young people are well informed of HIV
risks and prevention strategies, they are changing their
behaviour in ways that reduces their vulnerability. For example,
in several countries, targeted education has led to delayed
sexual debut and increased use of condoms resulting in a decrease
in HIV prevalence in young people. Yet efforts to increase HIV
knowledge among young people remain inadequate.

In order to bridge this gap, young people from different parts of
Africa are taking bigger roles at the on-going International
Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA). UNICEF, in
Partnership with the Children's Radio Foundation of South Africa,
has sponsored 6 Youth reporters from 3 different African
countries (Zambia, South Africa, and Democratic Republic of
Congo) to cover ICASA as Youth Reporters. They will later share
the captured information globally with other young people using
social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and SoundCloud for
audio pieces.

The ICASA Conference was preceded by a Youth Pre-Conference at
which more than 170 young people from across the world discussed
issues of accountability, leadership, and participation of youth
in the fight for Zero HIV, Zero stigma and against
discrimination.

Today, the third day of the ICASA, was blended with a debate at
the youth pavilion where two Cape Town based schools: Springfield
and Rompeposch High Schools, battled it out. The motion under
scrutiny to which Spring Field High School strongly proposed and
carried throughout the end of the debate was that "Sex education
should be integrated into the school curriculum.’’